Successful management of an organization comprised of people with diverse qualifications and backgrounds requires standardized communication channels and effective leadership. The benefits of communication and leadership, however, often break down with time and neglect. Introducing effective standard operating procedures can improve employee confidence, in the firm and in themselves, and result in an outstanding corporate culture, firm-wide adoption of core values, and maintenance of your firm’s standards.
Risk protection by way of compliance
Reduced redundancies through job standardization
Adherence to best practices that maintain the highest ethical standards
Improved operational excellence leading to the company’s recognition in the market
Enhanced performance leading to client and key stakeholder confidence
The real challenge is the day-to-day application amid pressurized deadlines
Poor maintenance and administration from a lack of commitment, time, and resources
Legal jargon in the policy and procedures documents, without a focus on the end user
Fostering an environment of encouragement and communication to incentivize staff adoption and adherence to policies and procedures
Implementation is as simple as following an ongoing four-step process of research, review, train, and update
Research: Appoint subject matter experts to evaluate the existing system and document requirements
Review: Verify research and review whatever is necessary for specific cases
Train: Create procedures to increase and monitor participation
Update: Utilize agile methods and software to update and communicate improvements
Maintain control mechanisms at every level of company hierarchy
Provide continuous support, periodical training, and have your subject matter experts make regular improvements
Ensure your subject matter experts collaborate with legal on law and compliance updates
Measure improved efficiency through periodic reviews
Integrate policies and procedures with both property management software and property accounting software
Recognize policy and procedure adoption in performance reviews, and with an annual award program
Once streamlined, policies and procedures should be on par with ethics and organization codes of conduct.
While launching standardized policies and procedures is time-consuming, future rewards are guaranteed if effectively implemented, monitored, and managed.